St. Thomas Magazine Wins Five SPJ Awards

St. Thomas magazine has won five awards in the annual Page One Awards competition sponsored by the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

The awards, which recognize work published in 2012, were announced Tuesday night at a dinner at the Town & Country Club. St. Thomas’ entries competed against those from media organizations such as the Minneapolis Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press (in the photography category) and Twin Cities Business (in the magazine category). The St. Thomas winners:

Ekern’s image of Chandran Duffy took second place in the sports photography category.

First place in Photography/Best News Portrait: Photography director Mike Ekern, for his fall 2012 magazine photo of Bruce and Ev Kramer. Judges’ comments: “Really nice moment of a man with ALS and his wife. A hint of a wheelchair says there are physical problems, and the broad smiles on both show their personality. Technically difficult lighting handled very well.”

Second place in Photography/Best Sports Photo: Ekern, for his spring 2012 magazine photo of a softball player diving headfirst into home plate.

Whisenand’s photo of a woman in a medical clinic in Kampala took second place in the feature photography category.

Second place in Photography/Best Feature Photo: Former photographer Thomas Whisenand, for his spring 2012 magazine photo of the woman waiting in a medical clinic in Kampala, Uganda.